Although most of the Jewish population of Israel is secular and therefore seemingly unaffected politically by God&apos;s promise of the land to Abraham in Genesis, it appears the divine promise that “I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land of thy sojournings” holds ancient power. The pull is unconscious for most but very deep, which has an effect on most Israelis.The influence of this justification for our tie to the land on the secular population rises emotionally above all other rights to ownership of the Land of Israel.

The concept of a divinely promised land is in contradiction in principle to the values of the Zionist movement, which was primarily a modern, secular nationalist movement.

On the other hand, the secular nationalism of Zionism and the state of Israel has messianic religious underpinnings, both conscious and unconscious,